Here we go again
by Askre5
Summary: It's been nearly two years since the TMNT were warped by accident to Rytonas, nearly a year since Donatello and Täla had their baby and Leo married Rya. Now something is happening in the city, a previously minor gang is suddenly very powerful and whipping the Foot. It seems there is a new player in town and it quite possibly is someone the turtles know. WNGAB - Triology
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Can you believe it, after 9 years I'm finally writing the official Sequel to We Never Get A Break. It's finally happening people and I hope you'll like this one.

In the grand tradition of this series, the title is a phrase or a term, much like We never get a break and Pregnant Pause. Here we go again, in this case.

The story was foreshadowed in the in-betweenquel Pregnant Pause and honestly We never get a break was a really long prologue to this story, this is the story I really wanted to write with this series but for some reason never got around to it.

Like We never get a break, this will be in First person and many characters we met in the first two stories will return. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**  
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

Other characters are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).  
The species of Rytonas, rymskas, ymskas, umskas, otanis, and other off worlds, are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

The story, is copyright © 2015 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

 _Sum: It's been nearly two years since the TMNT were warped by accident to Rytonas, nearly a year since Donatello and Täla had their baby and Leo married Rya. Now something is happening in the city, a previously minor gang is suddenly very powerful and whipping the Foot. It seems there is a new player in town and it quite possibly is someone the turtles know._

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Foot soldier**

The city is quiet this night and the patrol I am on has seen nothing worthwhile to report to our master. We are group of five soldiers meant to watch over the activities of our competitors. We are few in number so there is a less chance of being discovered.

The leader of the group is Kenneth; he's been in the Foot for over thirty years so he's a veteran. He was first in Japan having immigrated there with his parents when young, but when Oroku Saki was told to take over the operation in New York. Kenneth was one of the soldiers that went with him.

The rest of us are much newer in the organization. Daigo has only been for few months, this is his first patrol. Kenneth practically adopted him when he started and is his personal trainer. The boy has showed promise. Another newer face is William; he has been with us for a year and already faced the turtles two times. He was nearly killed in the second encounter by the one in the red mask.

I've been in the Foot for two years and so has Gerald the fifth member of this patrol. We have faced the mutant freaks many times and have the scars to prove it. However, right now they are far away from our mind; our focus is on our master's competitor.

The Foot wasn't used to competition anymore, aside from the many battles with the turtles; we no longer had to worry much about other enemies. They had all been long since eliminated; we ruled the underground businesses of New York City. That is until about roughly a year ago.

It started first as rumors, mostly from the various street gangs we had loose control over. The word went on the street that a new player was emerging, he had already signed a deal with one of the few gangs the Foot did not control. The Furious Tigers who ruled in the northern part of the city.

Those rumors were dismissed at first as just that, rumors, tall tales and wishful thinking. The Tigers was a minor gang and no threat to the Foot. Then other words began going around that the Tigers met up with some people regularly, people that were not quite human. Our Master suspected that the turtles were involved and sent a team to investigate. It never returned and we never found the bodies.

Then the Tigers began growing in number, they soon had taken over territories belonging to other gangs the Foot did not control. In matter of weeks, they had become just as big as the Purple Dragons and the two began clashing. The Dragons were under our domain and Hun reported that the Tigers looked way to organized to be mere street thugs anymore.

We tried to investigate again and this time made some process. It turned out that the Tigers were the security detail for someone. This person now owned great deal of warehouses and fake business fronts, all within Furious Tigers territory. It turned out that a lot of this was smuggling, high tech looking weapons, rare looking artifacts, jewelry and even medicine and food.

The Tigers no longer fought with mere street fighting skills. They had become deadly combatants; our warriors where sometimes forced to engage them in battle and sometimes barely escaped alive. The news of a street gang turning into a deadly security force for some new underground business troubled our Master greatly. He declared recently that until this competition was dealt with, we would no longer focus on finding the turtles or engage them in any way, they were a secondary issue now.

We managed to capture a member of the Tigers and tried to interrogate him. He went through it with this odd smile and laughed at our questions. He declared that the Furious Tigers finally had it made; they now had some new friends who knew how to treat people loyal to them. The Foot no longer could claim this city for their own he told us before he died from his injuries.

That was the best we could manage and after that we tried few times to sabotage their operations. However, they struck back just as relentlessly and we ended up losing a bit of territory to them. Our Master was growing increasingly impatient, by this time he had usually crushed any competition, now it was nearly a year since this new player had arrived and he now controlled just as much territory as us. He had managed to split the city into two halves.

That brings me back to the current patrol. We are now within Furious Tigers territory. Trying to see what they are currently up to. Aside from seeing few members on guard nothing else had been spotted. Kenneth was though not quite ready to call it a night; he led us to the harbor hoping to see if some activity was there for a change. It was strange though, our competitor never seemed to have an obvious main supply line.

There was no real increase in trucks on the road or any new ships with unusual amount of cargo. They had an airport but all the planes landing there were too small to carry anything of significance. This was one of the biggest questions we had. Where did they get the stuff they were smuggling? More importantly, where did most of it go? We had spotted no increase in new weaponry anywhere.

We arrive at the harbor and silently monitor a warehouse from the rooftop of another one. Tigers are on patrol around it, all in their trademark leather jackets with a Bengal Tiger imprinted on the back. They have weapons, both guns and hand to hand and they know how to use those. I have two long scars on my side to prove that.

I notice that Kenneth is watching rather intently. He may have spotted something we didn't; after all he was far more experienced than us. Daigo stays close to him but does not move, William, Gerald and I bring up the rear making sure no one sneaks up on us from behind.

Suddenly we spot something really odd. From the windows of the warehouse there comes a faint greenish glow. The guards outside become even more attentive to their surrounding and seem rather tense. After a bit the glow subsides and the Tigers outside seem to relax slightly. We glance at one another all thinking the same thing, whatever had happened in there, nobody was apparently supposed to know what it was.

Meaning of course that we were going to find out, this information could just be what we needed to take care of this competition. Kenneth signals for us to move and we do, trying to get closer but unnoticed. There were three guards on the roof but Gerald, William and Daigo manage to take care of them swiftly and silently.

Kenneth then signals that I am coming with him into the warehouse, the rest will stand guard outside and give the Tigers the illusion that their people are still up there. I just nod and we quickly and stealthily enter through the roof entrance. There is some activity inside; people are moving crates around, stacking them up. We hide up in the rafters and watch what is going on. This is interesting.

 _We have never gotten this far before,_ I think and can't help it but smile a bit under my facemask. Kenneth keeps staring with the same intent and outside.

"Move it, the boss wants these crates ready within the hour!" someone snaps. It looks like they are ready to move goods around. However, none of the crates are taken to the entrance; there are no trucks ready to be loaded.

I'm given a signal to stay where I am. Kenneth is going to attempt to go closer and silently disappears further off. I think he's trying to shadow the foreman, the one who had previously snapped and mentioned the mysterious boss.

"They are going to be returning soon, have you finished blinding the windows yet? We can't risk anyone outside seeing it," the foreman calls again. It seems that they had forgotten to previously cover the windows. How unfortunate for them, because we had already spotted whatever it was.

My senses suddenly pick up something. I just barely manage to dodge out of the way and hear thud right next to my ear. I quickly glance at the wooden beam I had been close to, I blink when seeing the throwing knife embedded into it. I barely manage to turn around when something strikes me hard and throws me off the rafters.

I land harshly on top of few crates, smashing their tops. I groan and try to move but suddenly several hands grab and pull me off. Struggling is futile no matter how hard I try, they managed to force me down to my knees and rip my mask off.

"Took care of three on the roof, they had already killed the guards up there," a rusty voice says, the owner is out of sight. Tigers prevent me from seeing clearly, as they surround me.

"Here is the fifth one!" someone shouts.

 _Kenneth,_ I try to see; some of my captors are watching something. I hear scuffle and weapons clashing.

"Finally, one of those so called Foot soldiers who can fight!" the rusty voice cackles. I hear Kenneth growl and I hope he can get out of here. Never mind me I will gladly die if at least one of us can get out and inform our Master what happened here.

Finally, one of the Tigers steps out of the way so I can see something. I freeze when seeing our patrol leader thrown across the room. His uniform has already been cut up and he's bleeding, but that was next to nothing to what I see next.

A huge figure approaches where Kenneth lies moaning in pain on the floor. It is well over six foot tall, huge and bulky. Its body is humanoid but covered entirely in golden brown fur and the head, I gulp, it looks like that of a jackal with narrow ears. It carries a scimitar looking sword and the weapon is covered in blood. An ugly scar is on this creature's neck. It only wears some type of leather shorts and a belt that now carries the throwing knife that distracted me.

Kenneth tries to rise up and strike. The jackal creature blocks it easily grinning madly. Then it punches him hard, sending the soldier back to the ground. My patrol leader grunts and moves weakly. The creature raises the sword for a strike and my eyes bulge out.

However, Kenneth proves he is a veteran soldier and manages to grab for his own weapon. He just narrowly manages to block the strike where he lies. The leader rolls away and manages to jump back to his feet. His mask has fallen off and I can see his grim scar ridden face. He readies his own sword and charges.

The jackal creature blocks his blow and returns the strike. It is hard. I can see Kenneth wince at the force and he barely holds onto the sword. His opponent then kicks him in the guts with the knees, sending Kenneth to the ground.

Again I try to struggle free but a gun is pointed at my head, indicating for me not to move. I relent to it and watch the fight. Kenneth no longer has any strength left; he tries to rise up but is too late to see the second sword strike. I shout to warn him but am too late, the patrol leader receives a vicious blow and slumps back down. The jackal raises his sword again and hews.

"No!" I realize now that I'm the only one of the patrol left alive. If I don't get out of here our mission is a failure, another patrol gone mysteriously missing.

"Tie him up, I'm sure the boss would like to talk with him," the jackal creature orders, he's produced a rag from somewhere and is cleaning the sword. Two Tigers are carrying Kenneth's cut up body away.

I'm pulled up to my feet and forced to sit on a chair. Chains are produced to tie me securely to it. No matter how I wiggle, I can't escape these bonds, I sigh and wish I had mastered better the art of escaping restraints.

"I would have thought after your last patrol disappeared, you Foot guys would have taken the hint," the jackal creature steps up in front of me.

"You can torture me all you want but I will not say anything to betray Master Shredder," I declare, I'm not terribly surprised that the Tigers and Kenneth's killer laugh.

For a moment the attention is away from me when a green glow forms in the warehouse. We all look towards it and I blink in surprise. What can only be described as a glowing portal has formed just few feet away from us. Any Tiger member that's in the way immediately steps to the side.

Through the portal comes another jackal creature, but this one is a bit smaller and its ears are wider. After it comes one that looks more like a spotted hyena just not with that many spots and looks much thinner than the jackals. Both of them are armed with scimitar like swords. They look around and frown heavily when seeing me but do not approach, just sidestep out of the way.

Two new beings come through the portal. They are thin and humanoid and around the size of the smaller jackal. These have wolfish heads and gray fur. The taller one is dark gray and has a hard scowl on its face. I'm surprised how human the expression is. The smaller wolf creature has very light gray fur and more commanding overlook. The portal closes behind those newly arrived.

"Another one of those Foot I take it?" the light gray one says when spotting me.

"Yes, five of them, already disposed of four," the jackal creature that killed Kenneth speaks up.

"Well then, guess Mr. Oroku Saki is going to be minus one patrol again." The light-gray wolf creature shakes his head in dismay. "But let's make sure first that he's not reported anything back to his home base. Rqwt, head back to the Mountain and get Fhui."

The portal opens again and the hyena creature disappears through it. I know I already vowed not to speak and I rather die before giving any information away. Nevertheless, for some odd reason as these two wolf beings approach, I'm wishing I was facing the turtle freaks right about now and not these.

* * *

 **Kenneth**

I can feel death hovering over me. I do not know how long I will live.

My enemy was strong… skilled… I've received savage blows…

I manage to concentrate my thoughts… my inner breathing… let them think I am really among the dead for now… must get a message…

Not turtles this time… not sure… mutants even qualify… alien feel over that being I faced…

I am put on top of a pile… hard to breathe now… once I feel I'm alone… probably think I will go nowhere… I manage to slide slowly down…

See what I was put on top of… pile of bodies… three… so he spoke the truth… Daigo… William and Gerald are no more… then I hear a scream… it is Taka… he is still alive…

Spot something near me… made of metal… of course… near the harbor… sewer access… must be a manhole…

Hard to move but must try… manage to pry open the manhole… that nearly does it… I feel faint…

Something strikes me… splash of water and hard floor… I weakly look up… I must have fallen through the manhole… I'm in the sewers… must crawl to safety… but I am not sure I will… make it…

I do not know how long I crawl… getting really hard to breathe… think I hear voices… must be hallucinating…

"Sally!"

Something near me… can't look up… too weak.

"Dude. What is he doing down here?"

"Apparently escaping. Sally heel!"

Something nudged me for a moment… I manage to force myself to look up… but vision is blurry… is that a dog?... there are shapes near it…

"Patrol… ambushed…" I whisper.

"Um aside from us, who could whip up a Foot soldier this good?"

"Huh, guess they bit off something more than they could chew. The Furious Tigers have gotten awful big as ya know."

"Hey Leo, Mikey here. Raph and I just found a really cut up Foot Soldiers in the sewers near the harbor."

Someone touches me… not gentle… but I can't protest… I'm turned around… I see something hovering over me… the dog appears again… it's pushed away…

"Sit Sally! Mikey, tell Leo it is sword cuts, these are not knife or bullet wounds on this guy."

"Yeah Raph says its sword cuts on the dude. Yeah he's barely alive."

"Hey, you still with us?"

Something slaps me loosely on the face… I barely can groan to indicate that… I am still alive…

"What attacked you? The Furious Tigers?"

"Yes… and no…" I can feel it… I'm slipping away… lost too much blood… the fall…

"Jackal… creature… not human…"

"What? What jackal creature?"

My uniform is grabbed and I'm pulled up… but I barely feel it… I can barely hear him.

* * *

 **Raphael**

Dammit it's no use, the Foot goon is dead. Judging by the wounds and the blood trail he's left behind himself, he should have been dead already. Him muttering about a jackal creature is not good, not good at all.

Sure couple or so years ago I would have dismissed it as a hallucination. Now I know better, I just so happen to know that we aren't alone in the multiverse. I happen to know a world where jackal creatures exist in. I glance up at Mike who has finished reporting our finding to Leo and hangs up his shell-cell.

"He wants us to search the body for anything that might be useful," he tells me. I nod and immediately search the bloodied uniform of the guy. I find a small concealed camera in his glove; I decide to take the whole thing with me since I'm not sure how much I will damage it if I try to remove the device. Sally tries to take a sniff at the item that now hangs on my belt.

"No Sally it's not for you," I hiss down at my dog that backs away immediately. I've managed to train her not to give away sounds unless it was a dire emergency, but she could still get overly curious.

"They are probably going to be looking for him. Let them pick up the garbage," I snort and rise up. "Sally, the back!"

I've trained my dog well. Usually when I go out with her for a walk I have a special kind of straps fastened to my carapace that she can ride one if I need to pick up speed. The dog is fast but I can outrun her, plus I might make sudden turns and jumps she can't make. Like nothing was more natural, Sally jumps on my back and Mikey makes sure she slipped correctly into the straps.

"Let's go!" I then dart off through the tunnel with Mikey. I have to admit though, I am a little curious; once we are far enough away, I figure I could take a short glance back. Something has arrived and is hovering over the body of the dead soldier.

"Shell!" I skid to halt and Sally whimpers. I'm too distracted to tell her to be quiet. Mikey stops to and we conceal ourselves in the shadows.

"Dude… isn't that an ymska?" Mikey whispers shocked.

"Not just any ymska, I recognize that ugly mug… that's Rakl!" I snarl. "We better get our shells back to the lair pronto!"

Mikey does not hesitate to follow me as we reassume our run straight back home. Boy are they at the lair going to be surprised to hear who is visiting this world again.

 **End Chapter 1**

* * *

 **A/N:** As a good man said once, DUN DUN DUN.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Leonardo**

"Raph and Mike just phoned in; they found more dead than alive Foot soldier in the sewers. The guy said something about a 'jackal creature' attacking him before dying," I tell Master Splinter; he had approached me after I had turned off my cell.

"A jackal creature?" my father frowns in thought. "Did they find anything on the soldier that could help identify what he meant?"

"I told them to look for anything and then come straight back home," I nod. "The guy was cut up by a sword according to Mike."

Splinter nods, but then my shell-cell rings again and I move to answer it. Looks like things are going to get busy. We had over the past year noticed strange Foot activity and seen a local street gang, the Furious Tigers rise in power to rival them as a criminal empire.

"Yes hello?" I answer but I'm not too surprised to hear it is Mike again.

"Leo, you are not going to believe who we saw come after that dead soldier dude," he speaks quietly, more quietly than I'm used to hear from him. It must mean they are still somewhere on their way and might risk being heard.

"Who Mike?" I wonder and almost regret asking when he answers me.

"Rakl, that ymska dude that knocked you out almost two years ago and dragged you to that Mountain on Rytonas," Mike says. I was starting to suspect heavily who that jackal was the Foot soldier had referred to.

"Mike, are you sure it was him?" I ask and glance at Splinter who had heard as well.

"Raph said it was him, we found a camera on the dead soldier dude, maybe that has something on it," my brother tells me.

"Right, come home with it. Don can probably get footage from it," I'm about to hang up but hear a hesitation in Mike's voice. "What's wrong?"

"Uh Raph went off to investigate further, but I have the camera," he tells me. I groan and Master Splinter palms his face. Leave it to Raph to do something like that.

"Mike, go after him and make sure he doesn't get himself into any trouble," I order and hang up shaking my head.

"Maybe Don and I should head off, just in case," I look at Splinter.

"Perhaps you should. From what you and your brothers have told me, these criminals you met two years ago can be just as dangerous as the Foot," he tells me.

I nod and walk away towards the living room to see if Don is there. I only see my wife Rya the umska. She's sitting in the couch, or 'beached on it' as she calls it watching TV. The hyena-like Rytona was few months pregnant with our child and beginning to show.

"Hey beautiful," I say and lean over the couch back to kiss her on the cheek. "Have you seen Don anywhere?"

"He's not here?" Rya blinks and looks around. I try not to chuckle, we had discovered that one of her pregnancy quirks was that she could sometimes completely zone out. My brothers and I could have a full out sparring match right in front of her and she wouldn't even notice it.

"Don't worry he's probably in his lab or in his room, I'll find him. We are heading out to help Mike and Raph investigate something," I inform her.

"Alright," she says and kisses me before I rise up to continue to find Don, but I didn't need to go anywhere, my brother in question comes walking out of the kitchen holding his son Rikaho Yoshi.

"Don, we need to head out after Mike and Raph, I'll explain on the way," I tell him. I rather not say what might be going on within earshot of my wife, at least not for now.

"Okay." Donatello just nods and walks over to the recliner. Master Splinter had arrived and sat down there. My brother hands his infant son over to our father. Rikhao had mostly inherited the catlike agra look of his mother, but his fur was olive green and he had a shell like Don. His snout was also a bit wider and almost beak shaped.

"I'll inform Täla when she wakes up from her nap," Splinter assures Donatello, the two of us then head out to look for our two brothers.

Once Don and I are outside and running through the sewer tunnels, I tell him what Mike and Raph saw. I'm not surprised that my brother frowns in worry. He had maybe not faced against Rakl but Don knew very well what his boss was capable of. The very fact that we had two Rytonas living with us was a testament of that, it was either us hiding them or they risked being captured and have god only knows what done to them.

"No wonder the Furious Tigers have been rising in power if Akre is helping them. Just from what we saw on Rytonas, that guy is scary powerful," Don says and I can only nod in agreement. My brothers had told me of their frustrating attempts of finding a way to free me from Akre's Mountain.

We hadn't been running for too long when seeing both Mike and Raph come running into our direction. Don and I immediately come to a stop, bit surprised to see our red clad brother there also considering what Mike had told me.

"Mike, Raph." I address them with a frown.

"No time to talk," Raph snaps and takes position beside me, drawing up his sai. Sally is still strapped to his back and she looks terrified.

"Yeah, we got company," Mikey whispers twirling his nunchakus nervously. "Biiiig company."

Don and I take that as a cue that there is trouble and draw our weapons. I wonder if Raph was spotted when going to investigate further and now they had several Furios Tigers on their tail or better yet, several angry and armed Rytonas in Akre's service. However, there is no noise coming from the direction they came from, there is in fact rather eerie silence.

Then it comes, I see the shadow of a large hulking creature approaching from the shadows. I gasp when I recognize the giant. It's 9'8 tall at least, it's mostly humanoid and bipedal but walks on digitigrade wolf-like feet. The head is wolfish and it's covered in grayish fur and has a long thick tail. It was wearing only leather shorts of some type and the arm spread reminded more of a gorilla than a man. That was not a Rytona, that was a varjan.

"Oh… shell," I whisper between my teeth when recognizing Kjge, the varjan Akre had me fight almost two years ago. He is too large for the tunnel and thus has to walk hunched.

"You know this bozo?" Raph notices my recognition.

"Remember the varjan I told you about?" I ask and take a deep breath; I let it out slowly when my brothers nod. "That's him."

"Great, well there are four of us, I'm sure we can take him," Raph declares and he prepares to push a button on the strap he uses to carry Sally. It would launch the dog off and out of harm's way if my brother needed to fight.

"No Raph," I order and use one sword to block his path, I use my other one to block the others.

"We are no match for this guy, I couldn't even make one dent on him, he is much faster than he looks," I tell them.

Kgje had stopped approaching when he saw us. The varjan seemed content now just to block our way and regards us critically. I have a feeling he was merely sent to discourage and not necessarily to engage an enemy.

"He is not attacking; he probably just doesn't wants us to investigate further." Don pretty much agrees with my observation.

Sadly, Raph still has impulses that take over sometimes. Before I can react, he's already pushed the button which sends Sally off his back. Then he jumps over my sword and charges right for the varjan.

"Sally! Home!" I order the dog now that she is free. Thankfully she's long since learned to take orders from all of us and she bolts off, I know she knows the way. _Though I swear I'm going to kill your dad._

When I turn back to face the varjan, Mike and Don had already started forward since Raph had taken the initiative. But we didn't need to wait long, suddenly our red-masked brother is sailing straight back to us, he smashes into Mike and Don and that impact sends them straight on me. I can't react fast enough and soon enough we are all in a pile on the ground.

"W-what… did I… just… tell you," I gasp, I got all three of my brothers on top of me. Thankfully, they are already scrambling to their feet.

Mike helps me stand up and I see Don is rushing to Raph to steady him. Raphael looks a bit disoriented, probably after the mega punch he received from Kjge whose right fist is still balled up.

"Alright, we're leaving, Don you help Raph," I grunt and start heading back, rescuing my swords from the ground in the process.

As I suspected Kjge doesn't move when we start heading back. I have a few choice words to tell Raph, but I have a feeling I better leave them to Splinter.

* * *

 **Donatello**

To say that I was concerned over the news about who was probably mucking around in our world, is an understatement. My own wife was quite possibly still on his list of people to capture not to mention all the trouble he caused the last time we met him. Well Raph, Mike and I never met him personally except briefly but Leo had.

This was bad. I could already see back on Rytonas what a powerful hold Akre had over the mind-set of the Rytonas. The commoners viewed him pretty much as unstoppable and the law enforcement was tearing out their fur in frustration in dealing with him. I did not envy the Shredder for having to deal with him now.

"Watch out for the step," I instruct Raph as I help him enter the lair. He was still disoriented after the punch Kjge gave him in the head that sent him flying right back at us. I wouldn't rule out a concussion.

"My head is still ringing," Raph growls. Sally who had reached home ahead of us tries to greet her master with all the enthusiasm of a regular pup, but my brother just isn't in a state to respond.

Splinter arrives and helps me support Raph to the sitting area; there we help him sit down on a recliner. Mikey has already fetched an icepack that we apply to the spot Kjge struck; it's already starting to swell.

"My sons, what happened?" Splinter asks. I let Leo handle the explanation while I make sure the icepack is on right. Raph doesn't look like he is in pain but he isn't one to show it too often, he's though probably going to have a killer headache after this.

I glance up and see that Leo has taken Splinter to the side and speaks with him quietly. Looking over my shoulder, I see Rya on the couch and beside her is Täla, my agra wife holding our son Yoshi. They are both clearly waiting for someone to fill them in.

"Damn that guy punched hard, I'm still seeing stars," Raph grunts.

"Then maybe next time you'll listen to Leo," I tell him quietly before turning to face the two Rytonas. Mike stays by Raph as I approach them, wondering where to start. I don't want to worry them, but they would catch on quickly, especially if we ended up having to encounter more of Akre's people out there.

"Girls, I'm afraid it seems an old 'friend' is beginning to get a foothold here in our world," I crouch in front of them, putting on hand on Täla's thigh.

"Oh my." Rya gulps. Täla puts her free hand over mine.

"Donny… you mean Akre is… here?" she whispers and her other arm tightens the hold over our child.

"It looks like it." I nod and sigh. "Raph and Mike saw one of Akre's lieutenants, Rakl and we had a run in with Kjge, the varjan Leo met in Akre's mountain. We think Kjge was there to prevent us from investigating further."

"Yes, that's usually his job for Akre, especially if Akre wants to minimize casualties," Rya speaks up; I'm not surprised she knows, she used to live in the mountain. "I mean nothing gets past a varjan unless the varjans wants it."

"Yeah… I got the idea," Raph chimes in; he looks more with it now. Perhaps the hit hadn't been as hard as we had thought.

"So now what?" Mikey asks.

I'm not sure how to answer, I go to sit beside Täla and put reassuring arm around her. She leans on me. Yoshi seems to sense something is not well and just remains quiet in his mother's arm, sucking on his pacifier. Using my free hand, I gently caress him on the carapace.

"There is nothing to it," Leo says as he and Splinter return to the sitting area. "We can't wait for the Magic Masters to arrive for the weekly visit with Täla's parents. We have to summon for them now and tell them what's going on."

"How?" I ask. We never received anything to contact them with.

"Well." Täla looks first at Rya unsure but then at the rest of us. "It's said the Magic Masters are subconsciously connected to all Rytonas, I don't know how it works, but maybe if Rya and I thought about them, they would come."

"It's worth a shot," I nod having heard something similar in my talks with Täla about Rytonas.

The two Rytona ladies close their eyes and concentrate. We can only wait and hope something happens. After a minute Täla opens one eye and then the other. Rya follows suit, nothing had happened.

"Well that didn't work," the catoid Rytona grunted.

"Maybe because it's a subconscious connection, otherwise they would be responding to every single Rytona who mentioning them for whatever reason," I suggest and both women nod.

"Let me try something." Master Splinter approaches and kneels down in front of both Täla and Rya on the floor. Then he assumes a lotus position but instead of positioning his hands to his sides, he offers them to the Rytonas.

"Please take my hands," he instructs them and they both do so though looking just as confused as us turtles.

Once again we can only watch as sensei closes his eyes and enters a meditative state. His brow sinks in concentration and I notice that both Täla and Rya have closed their eyes as well. I glance at Yoshi who is beginning to squirm a bit in his mother's arm. I gently take over holding him, though I wonder if the Rytona part of my son is sensing something and it's unnerving him.

Suddenly the ground begins to shake. Splinter drops out of his meditation and let's go of the women's hands. He rises up and turns around. Rya and Täla open their eyes and look unsure and confused as well. The rest of us can only either sit or stand and stare as part of the floor in front of us splits open and what looks like a human woman begins to rise out of the ground.

It's not human though, it's a landan the human like Rytonas. This was also not any landan; it was Earth, the third ranking Magic Master. She was very tall and had this hard no nonsense look about her. She was clad in skin clothes and had a thick long brown curly hair. I hadn't met her but a book on Rytonas I owned mentioned her and her predecessors. Earth was considered the Magic Master who was the most protective of his or her subjects. Generally, it was the one Magic Master you really did not want to piss off.

"Greetings and welcome to our home." Splinter bowed and so did the rest of us. The ground closed and Earth stared at us in silence, though nodding at the welcome.

"You must be Earth, Ice and Air have briefed us on the other Magic Masters in case they wouldn't come," sensei continued. "Thank you for responding to our call."

"I am." Earth's confirms in a sharp voice. "What is the emergency?"

At that Master Splinter gestures to Leonardo who steps forward. Leo begins explaining to Earth what we've just met and what Raph and Mikey had seen. Earth listens without a comment, though her face hardens when hearing some parts.

"Additionally, Khjan, the High Forest Guard, he told me a while ago to be on the lookout for anything odd happening in our world. I would definitely say this is what he wanted to know about, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't already suspect this was happening," Leo finishes.

"I agree." Earth nods, then turns and begins walking straight to the exit of the lair. "Show me where everything happened."

Leo looks at Splinter who nods. My brother then looks at Mike and me and gives us a motion to come; I hand my son back to Täla and rise up. As the three of us follow the landan out of the lair, I could hear Splinter in the process of halting Raphael:

"No Raphael, you may well have a concussion and must rest, they can handle this for now."

 **End Chapter 2**


End file.
